Miami (5-4) vs. Virginia (2-7) Game Preview

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Miami finally pulled up out of the nosedive with a 51-28 win over Pitt, and now it has to stay focused to get a sixth win for bowl eligibility. NC State and Duke are winnable final two games, but with the way the Canes have been playing, they need to get it done now.

The defense has started to struggle at the wrong time, not getting the big plays it came up with over the first month of the season, but last week, the offense made up for it with Brad Kaaya looking the part with a 356-yard passing day with four scores against the Panthers.

Virginia looked like it had something brewing with two wins in a row, and then came the power outage on offense and a four-game losing streak.

It’s going to be a little while for Bronco Mendenhall to get all the pieces in place, with the defense starting to fade as the season goes on in his first year, especially in the secondary.

The pass defense had few problems against Wake Forest last week, but before that it was getting bombed on regularly.

Kaaya will heat it up to make it a fifth time in the last eight games the Cavaliers will give up more than 300 yards through the air. They just don’t have the pass rush to bother the Canes to slow them down once it all gets rolling.